Page 107 of Velvet Corruption

“You ruined my life,” he snarled.

His hands clamped down on my arms. His breath came in harsh gasps, hot and thick with rage. My pulse was too fast, each beata reminder of everything I was supposed to do. Everything I was supposed to be.

A reminder that I didn’t have the luxury of giving up.

I had to fight.

For me, for Rosie, for everything he had tried to take. I couldn’t let him win.

I wouldn’t let him.

“You’re fucking dead,” he spat, his grip tightening, but I couldn’t tell if he was trying to convince me or himself. His hands went up my body, toward my face, where he stroked my cheek.

It made my skin crawl.

He moved his hands toward my neck and started to squeeze. Not hard. Not yet, anyway.

“I know you think you’re untouchable,” he growled, his voice a sharp blade. “But you’re not.”

I didn’t respond, not right away. My silence was a weapon I learned to use a long time ago, with men just like him.

His rage was a fire, filling the room, filling me.

“Answer me, you fucking bitch,” he yelled, his voice filling every inch of the room, every inch of my thoughts. “You ruined me.”

He wanted me to tell him that I was scared, that he won, that he got the best of me, that he found me first.

But I wouldn’t.

“You thought you could take me down and get away with it?” His breath was hot against my cheek, my skin crawling with disgust. “Thought you could destroy my life and just walk away?”

“You deserved prison,” I spat. “You deserved worse. Men like you think they can get away with everything, and you fucking can't.”

The grip around my throat tightened. “You have no fucking idea what I deserve.” His voice dropped, low and furious. “I spent six years in a cage because of you. You lied. You twisted everything. You made me into a goddamn monster.”

He thought he was the one who was wronged.

He thought he was the fucking victim.

I knew he would, but it still filled me with rage, still fueled me, still pushed me to fight back even harder.

“I didn’t forget about you,” he said, his breath hot and furious. “Not for one fucking second.”

“You made yourself a monster,” I said. “I just put you where you belonged.”

“No. You made me into this,” he said, his fingers tightening around my throat, cutting off the air, cutting off everything.

He thought he would win.

It should have scared me more than it did.

I should have known.

I should have been ready.

“This time, you don’t have a court to back you up,” he growled, his breath hot and foul against my face. His eyes were wild, bloodshot, filled with something that looked like vengeance and something that smelled like desperation. “This time, I’m the one with the fucking power… and not even your tough-talking boyfriend can stop me.”

Boyfriend?